The aim of this prospective, follow-up study is to identify a class of social-environmental events that is antecedent to relapse in alcoholic individuals. Weekly contact will be maintained with at least 40 male alcoholics for six months following their discharge from an inpatient alcoholism treatment program. The main variables measured will be subjects' alcohol consumption and the occurrence of events in six areas of life-health functioning: (1) intimate relations, (2) family, (3) social, (4) vocational, (5) financial, and (6) physical health. Collateral sources of information (e.g., relatives) will be established to corroborate subjects' self-reports. Behavioral theories of choice are used to develop a conceptual model of alcoholic relapse. Hypotheses regarding the defining properties of the class of events that precipitates relapse are derived from this model. Specific predictions evaluated in this study are that subjects' relapses will be associated with (1) life-health events that signal a decreased probability of receiving rewards in life-health areas that have been disrupted by past alcohol consumption, and (2) events that involve unplanned entry into stituations where alcohol is immediately available.